Guilin re-visited: Golden Longsheng Rise terraces & karst peak beauty of Yangshuo!

Late arrival, 30 km trip from airport to Guilin, some chats & some sleep and next morning we are ready for discoveries...

Plan:

--> Longsheng rise terraces (told to be GOLDEN at this time of year right before harvest)

--> Yangshuo with its karst peaks and rivers


2 buses and 3 h later ....welcome to Dazhai village of Jinkeng rice terraces that are located about 140 km away from Guilin. Jinkeng rice terraces are home to Yao minorities and women of this minority have extremely long hair and dress in real bright clothes.


After checking out Dazhai we finally decide to follow the minority lady who drove with us in the bus and was trying to convince us to go and stay at her place.... ~ 20 minute climb from Dazhai :)


After a short break we decide to go for dinner to Dazhai (20 min downhill) and to explore the village a bit more :)


Big eyes :)


Morning: view from the window of the room - a dream come true!


Our host getting beautiful ;) (arranging her long hair in a cool basket shape on her head)



Typical village house


Dazhai village down there


Morning walk in terraces


Rise..


View from the hill top: Dazai & Tiantouzhai villages


Time for hiking: bags packed and we start our ~ 5 hours hike in terraces to reach Ping`an village by the evening


Butterflies..



Hiking team :) ("-" me...I`m on the other side of the camera ;)


Terraces


Happy hiker ;)


More terraces


Harvest


Local minority show for 15 RMB ;) So this minority women have extremely long hair....and they are offering to show it for money ....after refusing several times...we gave into temptation to look ;)



Breathtaking view from viewpoint Nr.1 of Ping`an (Longji) terraces (Ping`an village down there)




Ping`an terraces



After a good hike we deserve a good massage.... it was pleasure :)


Ping`an village in the morning


Viewpoint Nr.2 of Ping`an terraces (which I climbed to alone, `cause other were still sleeping ;)




Which craft...


Time to move on.... 1 private minibus, 1 public bus & 3,5 h later we are in Yangshuo :)

Blue sky in Yangshuo for 10 minutes ;) (last time I was here in spring I never saw something like that)


After some snacks and some deaths by chocolate (one of the best cocktails I`ve ever had) , we feel like we have deserved yet another massage...so we head to Lonely Planet`s recommended Dr.Lily for some treatment :)


And then... after a desperate search for KTV....we find a bar with KTV where we were the only customers the whole night....so several hours of pure music & well forgotten tunes...starting by Britney & Emilia and all the way to Madonna, Eagles & Beatles :) (sang all the recognizable songs in English they had available ;)


Next morning started a bit late, but we were still focused to hike along Julong river... Hijacking a boat


Fruity prosperity of autumn fields.. :) We borrowed (quite) some of it on the way ;)



Water cows in a bath


Mysterious shadows in the fog...


Wet boat ride


Hiking the fields :)




Harvested..


Halara on the boat...



Next day - next adventure...this time we rent tandem bikes..
Yangshuo...beautful Li river & karst scenery ;)


Rain is no longer a problem ;)


Lush green..


Tandems & the road...


Moon hill...(one of them?)



From here we continued to Shanghai...so stay tuned for Shanghai adventures: EXPO revisited, North Korea pavilion, Estonian EXPO pavilion day and some more!